Lectures in Maternity Care, Breastfeeding, and Lactation

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Below is a listing of available lectures. These lectures can be included as part of any invitational program. Please inquire for additional topics and lectures from Evergreen Perinatal Education.

Searching For Excellence

This talk discusses what women and their families want and need from the healthcare system, no matter where they live, what language they speak, what economic status they come from. It looks at the roles we all play - doctors, nurses, midwives, lactation consultants, mother support groups. It considers the words we use, the power we have, and how these things can affect new families negatively or positively. This talk examines our relationships not only with the families we work with, but also with each other as professionals.

Why Breastfeeding Promotion Matters for Everyone

This session describes the need for commitment to breastfeeding by all healthcare workers as well as families, how to educate about breastfeeding without a turnoff, and how to successfully provide this breastfeeding education. This lecture discusses why we have a responsibility to promote breastfeeding and also includes information on how to support the mother who has chosen to formula feed her infant. Case studies will be presented of women who have changed their thinking, or formula feeding mothers who have breastfed subsequent babies after influential breastfeeding promotion.

Getting Breastfeeding Started with Evidence-Based Care

This lecture examines the various elements that contribute to successful first feedings. It looks beyond the essentials of correct positioning and latch to a much broader picture of how the healthcare system "welcomes" the newborn. This lecture looks at the scientific rationale of the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative's in-patient steps and helps nurses, midwives and physicians plan for providing optimal care during the first hours and days, without jeopardizing breastfeeding success. Supplementation and hypoglycemia protocols are also discussed.

The Late Preterm, Near Term Infant: Babies born at 34-38 weeks gestation

Infants born between 34-38 weeks gestation frequently present a unique dilemma for those who are caring for them. They are often well-developed, vigorous at birth, and their behaviors frequently mimic those of term, healthy infants. However, missing out on the last few weeks of in-utero gestation may result in a more subtle immaturity that requires vigilant assessment and care to prevent subsequent problems.

Experience shows that these infants are more vulnerable to hypothermia, progressive lethargy, poor feedings over time and a greater than 10% weight loss if allowed to breastfeed on demand without intervention. Our goal is to prevent these complications without creating unnecessary complexity and intervention and without creating unnecessary anxieties for the parents.

The Confusion of Numbers for Breastfeeding Newborns: How we make clinical decisions

In the midst of historic promotion of exclusive breastfeeding by various international pediatric societies, the use of formula supplementation for newborn infants has reached record highs throughout the world. The knowledge that there is a wide range of "normal" is often forgotten when it comes to discussion, interpretation and clinical practices regarding early supplementation of newborns. The criteria appear to be based on single studies and chosen arbitrary numbers, with an inclination to base clinical practices on partial knowledge, fear of lawsuits or personal opinion, rather than critical thinking.

As a result of averages, means, and medians, healthcare systems have created erroneous dictates and policies about the frequency of early breastfeedings, the length of feedings, the expected breastmilk volume consumed per feeding, or the expected number of feedings per day. What is the origin for assuming that healthy full term newborns feed 8 times each day? Where does it say that 10% weight loss in the first days of life requires immediate supplementation with breastmilk substitutes?

There are many practices which deserve questions. Do we really know the absolute answers? Probably not, but we can come up with a more astute process for evaluating our care. What has happened to our ability to assess, think and individualize our care for each mother and baby, based on research, our own and others' experiences, and some good, old-fashioned common sense? This is the genuine "Best Practice."

Babies Who Gain Slowly or Poorly at the Breast

Investigating the causes for babies who are not thriving at the breast can be one of the greatest challenges for the professionals working with new mothers and babies. This lecture looks at the role of the physician, midwife or lactation consultant, as she works with the family to protect the baby without sabotaging breastfeeding.

There is discussion of expected weight gain, the usefulness of pre and post feeding weights, the use of supplementation and alternative feeding equipment. It also discusses what practices are evidence-based versus what we believe to be true.

Patterns of Feedings and Predictable Breastfeeding Hurdles in the Early Weeks

What can parents and healthcare professionals expect from a healthy newborn? This lecture looks at the normal frequency of feedings, length of feedings, feeding behaviors, as well as dealing with the sleepy or disorganized newborn. This lecture also includes the questions parents ask, such as "How do I know my baby is getting enough?", "How would I know if I should be concerned?" as well as strategies for keeping mothers going when they get discouraged.

The Challenge of Postpartum Relationships

What happens to fathers when partners choose to breastfeed? What happens to couple relationships after the birth of a baby when a woman is breastfeeding? This lecture discusses couple communication issues, discussion of postpartum sexuality, and the impact of breastfeeding on sexuality. The prevalence and management of postpartum depression and adaptation issues while breastfeeding are also discussed. Depending on time, this can also include women's use of Lactation Amenorrhea (LAM) for contraception.

Honor the Parent: Honor the Child - Respect for Human Biology

This session discusses the findings from the Parent Baby groups, where thousands of new families have come on a weekly basis for education and support. The focus of the talk is the conflict parents experience about the information they receive from the "experts" (the healthcare system, their families, society in general) contrasted by the biological messages and the feelings of their hearts. The areas of greatest concern deal with dependency, feeding, carrying, sleep issues, starting of solid foods, and weaning. Breastfeeding is at the core of each of these conflicts.

Feeding after Exclusive Breastfeeding or Taking the Bite out of Picky Eaters

This talk translates professional, scientific, nutritional information into enjoyable, practical, helpful ideas for professionals and parents of small babies. This lecture discusses how the baby's biology determines the need for starting other foods after exclusive breastfeeding or formula feeding, just as it did with feedings in the early weeks. This lecture discusses the science and rationale behind the recommendation of exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months, the known nutritional needs of small children and common sense practical suggestions to help families achieve happier mealtimes with their babies and small children.

Lactation Suppression, Weaning and Breastfeeding Past the Cultural Norm

This lecture looks at weaning from a cultural, developmental, and medical perspective and includes the role of healthcare providers in assisting families through a variety of weaning situations. It discusses the mothers' and child's feelings in the decision to wean and how these decisions are usually based on the culture, rather than the biology. This lecture also includes discussion of lactation suppression when a mother chooses or needs to wean prematurely or when weaning happens with the death of a baby.

If your facility is interested in hosting and scheduling any of these courses, please contact us.

All Evergreen Perinatal Education LLC courses follow the IBCLC Detailed Content Outline. And Evergreen Perinatal Education has been accepted by International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners® (IBLCE®) as a CERP provider for the listed Continuing Education Recognition Points (CERPs) programme. Determination of CERPs eligibility or CERPs Provider status does not imply IBLCE®’s endorsement or assessment of education quality.